“To grow up in the city of Chicago, it is a rite of passage — for every kid to know the lyrics of ‘Bear Down, Chicago Bears.'”
In her 30 years as a music educator with Chicago Public Schools, Dr. Jenai Jenkins never anticipated the Chicago Bears’ fight song would lead to one of the most exhilarating, magical rewards of her career.
A passionate, beloved music education and band teacher at A.N. Pritzker Elementary School in Wicker Park, Jenkins earned the prestigious Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching last year, which led to her being invited to a Bears preseason game in August.
Although she’s lived in Chicago for decades now, Jenkins was born and raised in Cleveland. And though she knew how impactful sports, particularly the Bears, were to Chicago and its culture, it took hearing “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” in a stadium full of energetic fans to truly feel that impact.
“They started playing the ‘Bear Down’ song after one of the scores, and I was like, ‘The song has words?'” Jenkins laughed. “There was another teacher next to me, and she said she liked to teach her first grade class the song. I said, ‘I want to do that at my school.’ I wanted to use the song as a way to build extra connections with my students.”
Jenkins intended to teach the iconic tune to just her older students, but once some of the younger classes found out, they wanted in. She provided all of her students with the music and they took it home to begin learning.
The exercise quickly taught her how a song written all the way back in 1941 could bridge the gap between generations and represent hometown pride.
“The kids come in, they learn songs, we do a little dancing, a little reading,” Jenkins said, “but then we talk about the Bears. And we talk about our families in relation to football. The whole year has given me new energy and excitement, just in terms of building additional connections outside of music. It’s made everything that we do more fun, more meaningful, and just more exhilarating.”
Jenkins’ teaching of “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” culminated in her kindergarten, first, second and third grade classes performing the song at the annual winter musical assembly. While Jenkins believed she had orchestrated the ultimate surprise for the student of having Staley Da Bear come to the show and sing the fight song with them, the Bears had something bigger in store for Jenkins herself.